Living Lagom – midpoint

“Oh my gosh, it’s like the sun!” was the first comment I had when installing the LED lights in my kitchen as part of the Live Lagom project.

Seeing the bright side of things

Okay, so beforehand I’d gotten to the point where there were only two lights working, but when I swapped over the light in my hallway too and could finally see to the front door, I realised that these were useful AND money saving. Couple that with my snuggly STOCKHOLM blanket, which means I rarely put the heating on, and a new quilt on my bed and my energy bills have dramatically decreased…they’ve gone from £78 a month to £5. Yes five! I’m fully expecting them to go back up after the surplus has been decreased on my account but even still it’s pretty evidential this project is saving me money.

Food glorious food

It’s really no surprise, but my favourite thing from the project so far has been cooking. I’ve become a master at meal planning and sit down to work out what I’m going to eat for the week. I really expected that I’d hate this, that knowing what I was going to eat all week would ruin the fun but if anything it’s the opposite. It means that I can legitimately spend time more time thinking about my dinner, not less.

Failing miserably on the whole staying in to cook and then having leftovers for lunch the next day (which would’ve made this so simple), I’ve realised is that batch cooking is the future. I’ve become slightly obsessed with the FÖRTROLIG glass food containers which are the perfect portion size for most things, and as well, they move between freezer and oven and also don’t stain. Honestly, that not staining thing is way more of a plus side than I’d ever have realised, and doesn’t make me look like I’m keeping the local takeaway in business.

One of the successes I’ve rustled up was a recipe for vegan shepherds pie, a portion of which fits in perfectly and can be frozen and cooked in the same dish – hurrah for less washing up! Also, after a bit of a flirtation with soup, I seem to have developed a thing for turkey meatballs for lunch. I make a batch every couple of weeks, load the sauce up with vegetables and pop portions in the FÖRTROLIG containers and defrost them for lunch throughout the week. Oh and the Ikea 365+ food containers mean I can finally make porridge without it exploding everywhere – a fate I’d resigned myself to a long time ago.

Is that it?

Because all of this was a bit too easy, I decided that I might as well take the whole Lagom ‘the right amount is best’ philosophy one step further. As I’m already planning what I’m eating Monday through Friday, I’ve also invested in a fitness tracker, which I joked was a chic new version of an ankle monitor, as it’s definitely controlling my life but in a good way. I’m much more aware of how much (or not) I’m sleeping and often find myself going out for lunchtime walks to get my step count in…it’s definitely a case of ‘the right amount is best’!

Honestly, I thought this whole Lagom project would be a lot harder. The saving on my energy bill was a wonderful surprise and other than change the lightbulbs I haven’t really had to do much. Even the food thing hasn’t been a massive effort and the pay off in how I feel has been worth it.